


A Series of Awkward Events

by ShadowsOfBirds



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-05
Updated: 2020-03-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:41:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22571926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowsOfBirds/pseuds/ShadowsOfBirds
Summary: Hilda has a thing for Marianne but won’t tell her, Edelgard has a thing for Byleth and won’t tell her, so naturally they compensate by getting drunk and sleeping with each other instead.Claude knows all.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth, Marianne von Edmund/Hilda Valentine Goneril
Comments: 12
Kudos: 113





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had the anime Scum’s Wish in mind when I started this idea

“ _What?!_ ” Incredulous, Claude ungracefully coughed up his drink onto the table below him. “You and Edelgard?”

“Shhhhh!” Hilda insisted, thrusting a handkerchief in her friend’s face as she glanced around to make sure they hadn’t been overheard. Snickering, Claude wiped up the drink he’d spilt. The two were sat in an unpopulated corner of the dining hall eating what remained of breakfast; Hilda had not been awake early enough for the full buffet and Claude had been preoccupied preparing… Hilda didn’t know what scheme Claude was working on this morning, but hoped it wouldn’t be one that bothered her. Claude leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed and one hand raised to his chin. He chewed both on his breakfast and the information he’d been given.

“I thought you hated her.” He questioned as he pointed his fork at Hilda accusingly.

“She… isn’t my favorite.”

“But…” Claude’s teasing tone of voice made Hilda’s eyebrow twitch in irritation.

“You had to go ahead and _ruin_ my day right before the party, what was I supposed to do?!”

“Not sleep with the princess?”

With a frustrated groan, Hilda halfheartedly punches Claude in the arm and proceeds to pout miserably to herself. She was not having a good week. First Holst writes to tell her that he and Duke Goneril will be away on diplomatic affairs and unable to house Hilda over her school break, which means she will be stuck at the monastery with the staff while the other students are visiting their families. Next the professor changes her curriculum to flying rather than riding, which sounded cool in theory until Hilda realized it meant she would no longer have her weekly one on one time with Marianne. As if that wasn’t enough disappointment for one week, Claude informed Hilda that Marianne accepted Ashe’s invitation to the upcoming White Heron ball. She wasn’t sure what she was most upset about; that she hadn’t asked Marianne first, that someone else had the nerve to ask the girl she was interested in, or that Marianne had said yes. 

Claude’s face glazes over with a mischievous grin. “How was she?”

Confused, Hilda glances back at Claude and tilts her head. “Excuse me?”

“Edelgard. How was she in b-“

Hilda leapt out of her chair and covered Claude’s mouth with her palm. “Don’t you dare,” She warns, some residual pancake syrup still on her fingers.

Claude strains to articulate while muffled by Hilda. “I- just.. fig-ured-“

“I’m sorry, what was that?” Hilda giggles innocently.

“Get your hand off me already,” Claude mutters as he swats Hilda’s hand away. He lowers his voice before continuing, but his grin remains plastered on. “Can’t a guy wonder?”

“Fine but keep it to yourself.”

“Keep what to yourself?”

Startled, Hilda spun to face the voice behind her. “Ah, shit. Morning, Edelgard.”

“Must you be so vulgar?” Sighed the princess. “That aside, may I speak with you?”

Both women shot daggers at Claude as he began to audibly snicker yet again. He motions for them to carry on and Hilda swears in that moment she could strangle him. “Uh… yeah. Sure.”

Leaving the safety of her seat to follow Edelgard, Hilda feels her feet dragging themselves to a conversation she is certain she doesn’t want to be a part of.

——

“About last night-“

“Stop.” Edelgard commanded, raising a hand for emphasis. “What’s done is done. I simply want your word that you will not speak of what happened with anyone.”

_What’s done is done?_ Hilda scoffed. She felt vaguely insulted, despite having been less than pleased with herself for the same reason. “Believe me, I’m not keen for… everyone… to know either.”

Edelgard raised an eyebrow at Hilda. “Your reasons are your own. As long as the professor- Apologies. That is not your concern.”

“Right…” Hilda studied Edelgard’s face and found that the princess’ slip of the tongue elicited a subtle blush in her cheeks. “Is that all?”

“You could stand to pay more attention in class. Your work on the field was nothing short of slovenly on our last training day.”

Hilda’s hand found her hip and she fought the urge to scowl at Edelgard.

“No need,” Hilda replied sweetly. “The professor asked that I sit out and keep her company instead.”

Hilda caught a glimpse of the princess’ bewildered expression before making her escape back towards Claude. It wasn’t exactly wise to be on the princess’ bad side, but who was she to tell Hilda she wasn’t doing enough?

_The fact that she’s right isn’t really the point_ , Hilda reasoned. _And she doesn’t know that was a lie, anyway._

Re-entering the dining hall where she had left Claude, Hilda scans the room to find that he’d disappeared. She took the exit nearest the fishing pool and headed down towards the greenhouse, spotting his golden uniform adornment from within.

“Claude!” She shouted as she approached.

Turning out to face her, Claude’s movement reveals that he hadn’t simply been talking to the plants. Soft brown eyes briefly make contact with Hilda’s and she feels her heart stop.

“Ah, shit. Good morning, Marianne.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More awkwardness

“Morning…” Marianne replied, her eyes now returned to the floor. She clasped her hands together behind her back and waited silently for an opportunity to leave.

“I was merely asking our friend here about her upcoming date to the Ball!” Claude loudly proclaimed, one thumb pointed casually towards Marianne for emphasis.

“Claude,” Hilda warned.

Claude’s smile beamed as if the embarrassment of others was his personal ray of sunshine. Hilda shot him a threatening look in the hopes that he would not say anything implicating in front of Marianne, but he paid her no mind. Had she been a bit taller or holding her axe, he may have actually reacted, but to Hilda’s frustration he felt entirely too safe in their current situation.

“I thought she was waiting on someone _else_ to ask her,” he continued, to both girls’ horror. “Alas, it seems that person wasn’t int-“

“ _Claude!_ ” Hilda snapped, succeeding in silencing her friend. She apprehensively glances at Marianne to see the extent of the damage.

Marianne’s pale face had shifted to a rosy glow in response to Claude’s mention of her date, and as he continued that glow became a noticeable fire in her cheeks. She turned her head away, no longer satisfied with only looking at the floor, and took a step towards the exit. “Um… I s-should be going…” She adds, before darting out the door.

“Now look what you did!” Hilda hissed. To his credit, Claude’s grin had vanished – at least for the moment. He looked a bit thoughtful, which Hilda had not yet decided to be a good or a bad thing for her.

“She’ll be fine.” he shrugged before starting to walk out of the greenhouse himself. Hilda followed, not yet willing to drop the issue.

“She doesn’t know you meant _me_ , Claude. She thinks you just wanted to embarrass her!”

“You think so? I suppose you should go fill her in, then.”

Hilda stopped walking and looked at him in bewilderment. “You want me to go find her and tell her I wanted to ask her myself?”

Without looking back, Claude nodded his head. “Any objections?”

“Well… yeah!” Hilda huffed in what had now become a mixture of hopefulness and nervousness. “First of all, she already accepted the date.”

“Dates can be canceled.”

“You don’t know that she even wants to go with me. She could say no.”

Claude glanced over his shoulder at the angry girl burning a hole in his back. Her scowl did not erase how pretty she is; make-up well done, hair in symmetrical pigtails and a uniform that highlights her nice figure. Claude couldn’t help but laugh. “Hilda, she’s not going to say no.”

“She could think I’m just asking out of pity because of _you_ embarrassing her!”

“If you can talk the princess into bed, you can talk Marianne into believing you like her.”

“That’s not- Claude!” Hilda felt her own cheeks grow hot, and irritation bubbled at how calmly her friend was replying to her. _As if this were so simple!_ “I already told you we had been drinking, not much talking was involved.”

Claude laughed again, much to Hilda’s frustration. “Not much talking, eh? Here I thought there’d be some disagreement on certain… roles. Positions.”

“Oh, Goddess,” Hilda said with a sharp intake of breath.

“Is that what you said last night?”

Hilda took a moment to reply; she was imagining fist fighting Claude, with herself coming out victorious.

“The alliance will need to pick a new heir because I am going to kill you, Claude.”

“I don’t know what else to tell you, Hilda.” Claude sighed as they approached the Golden Deer classroom. “If Marianne is too much work, the Black Eagles classroom is only a few doors down.”

Hilda had to admit she felt a bit disappointed that Claude had no more retorts for her. Their conversation had felt similar to the argument she had with herself over the matter, only that argument led to nowhere. She was hoping Claude would find the right words to get her to finally confess to Marianne.

She located Marianne sitting alone in a corner of the room. Hesitant to encroach upon Marianne’s personal space, she elected to follow Claude instead, stealing glances as she passed by. Her turquoise haired classmate had her head down, much to Hilda’s frustration. Unable to discern if the earlier exchange still weighed on Marianne, Hilda resigned to her fate with a sigh.

_This is going to be a long day._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been having a bit of a block lately, so my apologies for the slow updates.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If I haven't specified already, the separate classes still have some shared weapons lessons (That's how Edelgard and Hilda are in the same axe courses).

“That’s enough.”

Hilda dropped her axe without a moment’s hesitation and wiped beads of sweat off her brow, relieved to be done. Looking back at Byleth, she sees the professor evaluating her with a neutral, slightly pensive expression. Before she could begin to fret as to whether she had met the professor’s expectations, Claude jogged up to take her place.

“My turn!” He called jovially.

“Be my guest.” Hilda laughed as she stepped aside, returning to the seats that lined the arena they practiced in. Claude’s yells of exertion as he tossed the axe sounded behind her, signaling he had begun.

Leading the training exercises, Byleth coached as the students hurled axes at the targets. While they usually practiced in small groups, today was the weekly evaluation and Byleth intended on assessing each students’ progress.

Edelgard stood to Byleth’s side, occasionally leaning to whisper something to the professor. As Hilda approached, Edelgard stared at her with an expression sharp enough to cut glass. The princess had her hair tied up and to the side, long blonde hair flowing over her shoulder, and she wore an unusual gym uniform with tights and a long-sleeved shirt. The way Edelgard’s violet eyes bore into her was unsettling; as if they were imbued with judgment and were able to see every lie Hilda had ever told, every responsibility she had ever shirked. Despite that feeling of unease, Hilda couldn’t help but admire her. She felt a strange pride in knowing someone that attractive slept with her, even if that person happened to be insufferable otherwise. _What an odd kind of pride,_ Hilda thought as she subtly shook her head.

Boredom took over fairly quickly and Hilda’s eyes began to wander the arena. They were currently in the center, but students from the class that will be in the arena next had already begun carrying in their targets. The targets were somewhat human in shape, although not so close in resemblance that they would provoke discomfort. Some were made of metal, while others were made of rubber or straw. _That has to be the Reason exam,_ Hilda perked up as she scanned for familiar blue hair. Sure enough, Marianne was among the students, carrying a target of her own. As far as Hilda could see, Marianne’s appeared to be made of rubber. _I thought Mari was learning ice magic._ Hilda’s brows furrowed and she tapped her fingers on her knees, resisting the urge to go greet Marianne. Her class hadn’t ended yet, and she didn’t want to be scolded by Byleth where both Marianne and Edelgard would see.

“Hilda!”

“What? Oh.” Turning her attention back to her instructor, Hilda met Byleth’s expectant eyes with the familiar unspoken air of “I wasn’t listening” between them. Byleth stared blankly back at her. _Yeesh. Does she want me to admit I wasn’t paying attention..?_

“She wants us to spar,” interrupted the princess. “Demonstrate our maneuverability.”

Hilda was both relieved by the interruption and horrified by the explanation. She could charm the boys into going easy on her, but Edelgard’s expression showed no mercy. If anything, it looked as if the princess was _more_ invested in crushing her after all that transpired. _Maybe I shouldn’t have goaded her before,_ Hilda lamented. Edelgard would make her work for it, if she were able to beat her at all.

Reluctantly, she rose to her feet and accepted the training axe handed to her by Claude.

“Good luck,” he whispered. “Marianne is watching.”

Hilda shot him a glare but he was already turned away from her. Positioned on the opposite side of the center ring, Edelgard stood with her axe hoisted over her shoulder and her other hand on her hip.

“Professor, do I have to? Wouldn’t you rather have Claude-“

“No.”

“But-“

“No.”

_Ugh. Well, it was worth a try._

Hilda faced Edelgard and gripped her axe tightly, awaiting the princess’ move. Edelgard is easily the one more invested in performing, which assured Hilda that she could at the very least avoid the work of initiating.

Edelgard’s swing came fast, but with the axe having been on her shoulder the motion was simple enough to track and Hilda side stepped the blow. Before Edelgard could recover, Hilda had hooked her own axe below the other and pulled hard, jostling it out of the princess’ hand.

“Disarmed. Point Hilda.” Byleth called out.

When Edelgard returned to her starting position, Hilda could see anger in her face. Her stomach sank as she considered how much quicker this would’ve gone if she had just allowed herself to lose; the princess would be content and she would get out of any extra work. But…

Hilda glanced back where she last saw Marianne and was met with soft brown eyes, quietly observing alongside her fellow mages. “Shit,” she swore under her breath, conflicted between wanting to impress Marianne and getting out of this fight. She didn’t have much longer to think, as Edelgard’s next assault came shortly after. Her distraction had given the princess a solid opening, and Hilda stumbled a bit in her efforts to avoid her. Not skipping a beat, Edelgard returns with a reverse swing, connecting the back of her axe with Hilda’s outstretched arm.

“Hey!” Hilda scowled, quickly rescinding the arm she had exposed for balance.

“Contact. Point Edelgard.”

The smug expression on the princess’ face made Hilda roll her eyes. They were tied, yet from looking at her opponent you would’ve thought she had a commanding lead. This time Hilda lunged first, determined to wipe that smirk off of Edelgard’s face. Her intentions must have been obvious, as the princess avoided her attack with ease. Seeing her opponent’s arm wind back, Hilda reflexively dropped into a crouching position, narrowly avoiding Edelgard’s axe as it swung horizontally where her chest was just a moment ago. The force carried Edelgard a step too far towards the side, giving Hilda the opportunity to spring up and swing again, aiming her weapon for the princess’ shoulder. Hilda had thrust with all her strength in an effort to end the fight and was subsequently unable to react quickly enough when the princess rolled forward, crashing her axe into Hilda’s legs. The swing took her legs out from under her and she fell forward, landing ungracefully on her right elbow and shoulder with a cry.

“Edelgard takes the match,” Byleth announces. “Hilda, do you need a healer?”

She wanted to say no, but the pain on her right side argued otherwise. As a compromise with herself, she belligerently reminds the professor that she didn’t want to participate in the first place, and now that she’s hurt she will certainly need to sit out of all other activities today. _At least I have an actual reason not to do any more exercises for the time being._

Byleth dismissed her with a wave, and she hurried back to Claude’s side.

“That was quite a performance,” Claude teased. “I was expecting you to fake an injury, but that one seemed real.”

“It _was_ real,” Hilda emphasized. “And everyone saw it!” Hilda didn’t care about everyone, though. She cared about one person.

“If that was real then you must’ve been awful in bed.”

“Excuse me?”

Claude shrugged. “If the princess wanted to hit you _that_ hard, then clearly you didn’t do a good enough job.”

“How are you still on that?”

“Or perhaps the problem is that you made her do all the work,” he thought aloud as he ran his hand through his hair, ignoring the angry pink haired girl at his side.

“That’s the last time I tell you anything, Claude.”

He chuckled, clearly unconcerned. He looked away for a moment before continuing. “Hil, she looks concerned.”

“What?”

“Marianne, she-“

“Quit looking at her! She’ll think we’re talking about her.”

“… I _am_ talking about her.”

Looking over to where Claude was facing, she sees Marianne clutching her sleeve and stealing glances in her direction. The mages were preparing to take over, yet Marianne couldn’t keep focus on her task; Hilda’s cheeks flushed with the realization that Marianne had not only seen everything but was still watching her now. She had eyes on her often and didn’t think twice about it, yet now that _she_ keeps looking at her, Hilda feels her heart threatening to burst from her chest.

“Let’s go,” Hilda urged Claude.

Their class was gathering their equipment and moving out of the mages’ way, although Hilda maintained her shoulder injury as a means of avoiding her responsibility in assisting. When Claude returned from dropping their weapons off with the weaponry room guard, they made their way out of the arena, passing Marianne as she walked parallel towards the seats surrounding the arena center. Hilda couldn’t resist the chance to look at her, which ultimately led to her failing to notice an out-of-place chair; at least, not until it was too late and she was tripping over it. A bit dazed from a second fall in a short time, Hilda processes first that soft gasp she knows belongs to Marianne, followed by the boisterous laughter of her ever so frustrating class leader. _I’m going to kill Claude if I have to listen to that laugh one more time,_ she grumbled.

“Are… are you o-okay?”

Hilda’s heart fluttered at the sound. _Damn it, get it together!_

“I- um. Yeah. Yes.” _Reeeaal smooth._

“You look beat up to me,” Claude chuckled.

“Shut up, Claude!”

“Well… if you’re okay, I should g-go…” Marianne briefly made eye contact with Hilda before resuming her walk to her seat.

“You could’ve asked her to help with your shoulder,” Claude pointed out.

“Thank you, Claude, but I don’t need your help.”

He shook his head with a sigh, muttering under his breath. “Keep stumbling through it is.”


End file.
